Thank you so much for your gracious reply. I appreciate its thoughtfulness and thoroughness, and I’m glad you and I are more or less on the same page.
2 Likes
I suspect that this is the truth behind the more frequent harrowings, moreso than the wards “growing hungrier”.
It’s a bit selfish but to a degree I’m hoping that the civil war will be bloody enough that the overpopulation issue will resolve itself.
Stuff grows out there, including edible plants - I believe that getting a particular species back across a ward might actually be beneficial. A combination of theurgy and selective breeding of plants may mean that the Xaos-lands will be able to be used as a useful additional food source.
3 Likes
This isn’t directly Stormwright related (although I do love the new chapter that was released) but the other thread seems dead. If MC romances Breden in game 1, then accuses them of being a kryptast in chapter 4 and makes them run away, do you think will it be possible to find Breden in a later game and patch things up?
I think Game 1 only questions are still good for the other thread and anything relating to Game 2 or the series as a whole goes here.
All that to say, I don’t think the other thread is dead per se, just limited in scope.
As to your question, I think they’ll be a rival if we meet them again.
I’m personally looking forward to what it’ll be like with Breden in the Xaos Lands.
“Breden, you are my most trusted confidant. That is why you shall accompany me to the Xaos lands where we will be cut off from our comrades and unable to learn of or influence the rebellion in any way.”
6 Likes
INB4 you don’t take Breden with you and the rebellion gets harrowed by the time you get back.
2 Likes
Breden is so annoying. The only companion that refuses to leave if you dismiss them before talking to Cerlota more in depth about Theurgy.
Why dismiss your companion?
@Havenstone will there be any point interacting with factions that utterly despise you in Grand Shayard? For example I’ve gotten to over -200 cred_a, for a character like that is there any point in interacting with/infiltrating the aristos or is it a waste of time?
1 Like
They’ll be interacting with my army of plektoi soon enough.
I guess I am just paranoid and mistrustful.
Ah see, I WANT my companions there because then I don’t have to explain this bullshit later.
1 Like
Hello. Recently ran through Game 1, played the demo, loved what’s there so far, even if I’m slow enough that it takes me a few runs to actually understand everything that’s happening. 
I have a small question.
In Game 1, Horion mentions that Shayard had an expansionist policy, and that’s why they controlled so much territory/were poised to become Hegemons, if not for Hera.
Thus my question, will a ‘decolonization of Shayard’ be possible in the future games, or are the identities/cultures of these absorbed territories too far gone?
3 Likes
Considering the existence of the Homelander/Cosmopolitan stat and that several times you’re pushed to make a decision about whether you’re fighting for Shayard first and foremost or for everyone oppressed by the Hegemony, I’d say that’s likely to become a major theme. And I think we’ve seen plenty of evidence that the individual cultures still have a foothold. Look at the widespread bilingualism, Shayardene noble family names, and how the PC (even a very intelligent and cosmopolitan one) finds the most basic elements of the Nyr social order downright bizarre.
1 Like
I think you have misunderstood me. I don’t mean separating/liberating Shayard or any of the other conties from the Hegemony.
When I say ‘decolonization of Shayard’, I refer to releasing/liberating the different territories that Shayard annexed before Hera came into the picture, kind of like those propositions you see about liberating regions of the Russian Federation or about the Native Americans being given their ancestral lands back by the USA.
Essentially, the question isn’t about ‘everyone oppressed by the Hegemony’, it’s about ‘everyone oppressed by Shayard’.
2 Likes
Havie has talked a bit about ‘Earlund’, which was the old name for the interior Rim/Westriding regions of Shayard. It’s a dead idea now, but will be able to be revived as the games progress. Regardless it will definitely be possible to end with Shayard in smaller, potentially much smaller, pieces than it is now.
2 Likes
FYI to expand on what Apple said.
Also, Havenstone has said that upper Shayard is sort of Anglo-Saxon inspired to an extent while the imperialist coastal region centered around Grand Shayard is where the French/Norman inspired names and culture come from.
The Cabelite yeomen sound like part of the constituency that the Earlund concept may eventually appeal to since they’re pretty much done with the nobles after what happened to Ester.
1 Like
Thanks, both of you. That’s very interesting to hear, can’t wait for my high-anarchy runs to make things so unmanageable that independence revolts start against Shayard right in the middle of Shayard’s revolt for independence against the Hegemony. 
Eeesh, good lord. I’m buying land in Ciarra and settling there the second this is all done.
4 Likes
But… Ciarra is Shayard. Just the Erezza name.
Yeah, the implication is that I’ll make Erezza’s culture dominant over Shayard’s.
1 Like